Why plymouth was successful

After 66 days, it reached the shores of Cape Cod, anchoring at the site of Provincetown on November The settlers decided the name was appropriate, as the Mayflower had set sail from the port of Plymouth in England. For the next few months, many of the settlers stayed on the Mayflower while ferrying back and forth to shore to build their new settlement. In March, they began moving ashore permanently. More than half the settlers fell ill and died that first winter, victims of an epidemic of disease that swept the new colony.

Soon after they moved ashore, the Pilgrims were introduced to a Native American man named Tisquantum, or Squanto, who would become a member of the colony. In the Fall of , the Pilgrims famously shared a harvest feast with the Pokanokets; the meal is now considered the basis for the Thanksgiving holiday. It took place over three days between late September and mid-November and included feasting as well as games and military exercises.

Most of the attendees at the first Thanksgiving were men; 78 percent of the women who traveled on the Mayflower perished over the preceding winter. Of the 50 colonists who celebrated the harvest and their survival , 22 were men, four were married women and 25 were children and teenagers. Winslow records eating venison from five deer killed by the Native Americans along with chestnuts, cranberries, garlic and artichokes—all native wild plants the English were learning to use.

Turkey was potentially served as well. By the late s, Thanksgiving had become an annual fall tradition. It was written after a near mutiny on board the Mayflower. The Mayflower Compact set down laws for all Mayflower passengers to follow. Born in England, he escaped with the Separatists to the Netherlands in when he was still a teenager to avoid persecution.

It is considered one of the most important firsthand accounts of early New England. With peace secured thanks to Squanto, the colonists in Plymouth were able to concentrate on building a viable settlement for themselves rather than spend their time and resources guarding themselves against attack.

They arrived in November initially at Provincetown Bay and later settled at what became Plymouth. The Pilgrims had intended to settle near the mouth of the Hudson River , but had been blown off course in stormy weather. Since they were well outside the confines of Virginia, the colonists sought to legitimize their venture by forming the Mayflower Compact.

The Pilgrims established their first home in an empty Indian village where the inhabitants had recently been wiped out by an epidemic. With typical religious certainty, the leaders concluded that God had cleared the site for his chosen people.

Massachusetts Bay Company Joint stock company chartered by the English government in to colonize a huge part of New England. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was centered in Boston. It was modeled after a Separatist church covenant, by which they agreed to establish a temporary government and to be bound by its laws. Religious freedom Political principle that prevents government restrictions on people in the choice of religious beliefs. Separatists Those Puritans who actually broke away from the Church of England, in contrast to the majority who initially sought to reform the church from within.

Wampanoag North American Indian tribe of Eastern Algonquian linguistic stock; skilled at cultivating fruits and vegetables. Their leader, Massasoit, welcomed the English. The Pilgrims left England to seek religious freedom, or simply to find a better life.

After a period in Holland, they set sail from Plymouth, England, on Sept. The Mayflower dropped anchor near present-day Provincetown on Nov. By legend the Pilgrims stepped ashore at Plymouth Rock; their records do not mention this landmark.

Settlers began erecting buildings and rough shelters for the winter. But harsh climate and illness took their toll. By the end of winter half the colonists had died. The colonists encountered the Indian Samoset, who surprised them by speaking English, learned from English traders on the coast of Maine.

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